There’s been quite a bit of brouhaha over at xda-developers lately about changes HTC’s made to the way multitasking behaves on the One X compared to stock Ice Cream Sandwich. We’re not just talking about obvious UI tweaks here — Sense 4‘s horizontal, card-like arrangement vs. Android 4.0′s default vertical list — but actual differences in memory and task management. While we’re not running into any problems with our One X review unit, some users have noticed that background app are getting terminated too aggressively, so we reached out to HTC for comment. Here’s what the company said:

HTC is aware of some questions in the enthusiast community about how the HTC One X handles multitasking and memory management for background apps. We value the community’s input and are always looking for ways to enhance customers’ experience with our devices. That said, multitasking is operating normally according to our custom memory management specifications which balance core ICS features with a consistent HTC Sense experience.

There you have it. HTC’s definitely implemented some multitasking tweaks on handsets running Sense 4. Perhaps this is why battery life is so impressive on AT&T’s One X? While we don’t believe this is going to be an issue for most people, there’s always the option of installing custom ROMs now that the phone’s been rooted.

Source

Retailers were included in the project; 59 retailers bought a four-game package with extras.

The game will be released through distribution in November; follow-on Ogre products will be released in 2013.

Geek culture is now firmly established as a prime Kickstarter segment, with two projects around a million dollars as flagships. In addition to Ogre Designer’s Edition at $923K, the Order of the Stick graphic novels project raised $1.25 million just a few months ago (see "1.25M for Graphic Novels"). In a related medium, a Zenescop- based animated project raised nearly $190,000 to fund a pilot animated episode (see "Pilot for ‘Grimm Fairy Tales’ Animated Series Funded").

Source

Green Arrow has come out of hiding. The CW has released a new photo of actor Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen in their upcoming series, Arrow. And unlike the previous image where he’s shrouded in darkness, we can actually see his face!

Oliver Queen means business. In this new photo, we get up close and personal with the vigilante playboy. He’s striking a pose with his weapon of choice (bow and arrow), and is locked on a target.

This fall, The CW plans to pair Arrow with their long-running fantasy drama Supernatural. But instead of laying low of Friday nights, they’ve been bumped up to Wednesdays. Nothing like some superhero, horror-filled action to get you over the midweek hump.

Arrow stars Stephen Amell as the title character, Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance, Colin Donnell as Tommy, David Ramsey as John Diggle, Willa Holland as Thea Queen (Oliver’s sister), Susanna Thompson as Moira Queen (Oliver’s mother) and Paul Blackthorne as Detective Quentin Lance (Laurel’s dad).

Arrow will air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW

Source

I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but Verizon‘s unlimited all-you-can-use 3G unlimited data plans are coming to an end. That means all of you on grandfathered-in data plans who want to upgrade to 4G LTE plans will have to give it up.

In a move to transition its customers to "data share" plans, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo unveiled at the 40th J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference that the wireless carrier will effectively kill off the $30 unlimited data plan it provided to customers before last July’s unlimited data plan end.

Lucky customers who joined before the cutoff date last year were "grandfathered-in." Basically, Verizon customers had a gentleman’s promise that ensured they would not have any data caps and could pay $30 forever and receive unlimited data.

However, Verizon’s new initiative essentially says that any customers who have the old 3G unlimited data plan and want 4G LTE will have to drop their old grandfathered plans. This is a major blow for Verizon’s customers.

Shammo even admits that a lot of its customers are on unlimited data plans. Shammo says the move to migrate these users off 3G unlimited data to data share plans will be beneficial to the company. Well, duh, Verizon will be able to nickel and dime its customers into oblivion.

Data share plans which are expected to launch mid-summer will allow families to share one data plan.

In the meantime, you might want to consider Sprint’s promise (for now) to provide true unlimited 4G LTE plans.

Via FierceWireless

Source

Samsung offers Premium Suite software upgrade for GALAXY Note users

March 22, 2012

Software package offers exclusive S Pen applications, enhanced multimedia features, and an Android 4.0 upgrade

SEOUL, Korea – March 22, 2012 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, today announced it will be offering a Premium Suite upgrade for GALAXY Note users worldwide from Q2. It includes extra multimedia features and a range of new S Pen optimized applications in addition to an OS upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The Premium Suite offers new features and applications exclusive to GALAXY Note and its innovative S Pen, which includes S Note, a unique tool that lets you combine your notes or sketches with other digital content, giving you a new way to create your own stories. S Note comes in various ready-to-use templates for a range of tasks including meeting minutes, diary and others.

S Note also includes the innovative Shape Match and Formula Match applications that help correct and digitize geometric shapes and even solve numeric formulas hand-drawn with S Pen, increasing your on-the-go efficiency and productivity. You can draw tables and grids which are instantly digitized, saving time and effort. Moreover, by using the S Note’s integrated knowledge search engines, users can quickly search, and obtain information.

For a touch of self-expression, the Premium Suite also includes My Story, another S Pen optimized application that allows you to create personalized digital cards for friends or family using any type of content including notes, video content, photos, text or voice.

In celebration of the Premium Suite upgrade announcement, Samsung will provide special offers to all GALAXY users as an official launch partner of Angry Birds Space, the newest Angry Birds game from Rovio Entertainment. For all Samsung GALAXY users, an exclusive GALAXY Note level will be provided for extra fun. Moreover, a special package of 30 challenging levels – ‘Danger Zone’ – will be available for free if unpacked within the three-month period.

Visit http://samsung.angrybirds.com/galaxynote for more information.

"GALAXY Note continues to delight customers all over the world with its incredible versatility and unique user experience. With the Premium Suite upgrade, we wanted to add features that enrich users’ Note experience even more, including the great advantages of Android 4.0 and innovative applications for S Pen," said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "We are committed to providing extraordinary experiences for consumers, and we will continue to provide new features and upgrades to enrich our offering."

The Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade brings an entirely new look and feel to Android on GALAXY Note, with a more intuitive user interface that includes a redesigned App menu for easier multi-tasking. The upgrade also introduces innovations such as Face Unlock, Snapshot, Android Beam and others.
The availability and scheduling of the software upgrade will vary by market and wireless carriers’ requirements.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2011 consolidated sales of US$143.1 billion. Employing approximately 222,000 people in 205 offices across 71 countries, the company operates two separate organizations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media & Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LCD. Recognized for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

Robert Kirkman, the creator/writer of

In conjunction with the release of The Walking Dead issue #100 at San Diego Comic-Con, the event takes place July 12 -15 at Petco Park, centrally located near the San Diego Convention Center. Registration is now open at TheWalkingDeadEscape.Com.

There are three ways to participate in this epic adventure. Participants can be a Survivor and race through the zombie infested evacuation zone; a Walker who becomes one of the undead, embracing the inevitable; or a Spectator who watches the apocalypse from sidelines at the Escape Party.

The Walking Dead Escape: San Diego is unlike any obstacle course event in the U.S., expanding on the best-selling The Walking Dead comic book series and graphic novel storylines, allowing Survivors and Walkers to explore the initial days of the apocalypse.

Read more…

Source

Some of you may have experienced this first hand, but if you’ve yet to suddenly go offline while playing Diablo 3, here’s what happens. First, your game will lock up for a minute or so, then you’ll be sent back to the character selection screen.

According to Eurogamer, at this point you’ll log back in and find that you’ve retained all gold, experience and items – no penalties there. Once you get back into the game, you’ll start from your last checkpoint.

The decision to require a constant internet connection initially received some blowback from the community, but it would seem it’s not as bad as initially thought, at least in one regard. Eurogamer even notes that being booted back to the character selection screen didn’t happen every time – occasionally the game would resume as if no disconnect even occurred.

Source

That new Baidu Cloud phone we told you about last week? You’re looking right at it! Following the flagship Dell Streak Pro D43 (which was branded with what was then known as Baidu Yi aka version 1.0 of the platform), this Foxconn-built Changhong H5018 is the second smartphone to have its Android Gingerbread system enhanced by Baidu, meaning it’ll come with 300GB of cloud storage space (instead of the old 100GB), voice search, voice control and a set of other online services offered by the Chinese search giant.

As for the hardware itself, we’re looking at a 10.3mm-thick matte chassis housing a 650MHz MTK6573 processor, a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 display, a three-megapixel camera and a non-removable 1,400mAh battery, all of which would explain that highly affordable CN¥899 (US$140) off-contract price tag. That said, you’ll still find a dual-SIM (WCDMA plus GSM) tray and a microSD slot hidden beneath the bottom cover. Not sure where ZTE is on this one, but for now, you can head over to Sina Tech for its hands-on report and photos.

New Baidu Cloud phone unveiled: Changhong H5018 with 300GB of cloud storage originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 May 2012 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Source

Alfonso Cuaron is doing some crazy stuff in his upcoming film, "Gravity." In fact, it seems like it’s so out of this world (literally) that Warner Bros has opted to push the movie’s release date back until 2013.

Originally "Gravity" was expected to hit theaters in November, just in time for awards season, but the effects-heavy film was recently test screened for some audiences to mixed reviews. Many commented that the CGI was "far from being done," which might have spurred the current delay.

That leaves "Gravity" without an official release date, though at least now "Gangster Squad" has been slated in for September 7. After a great first trailer, the Ruben Fleischer-directed period drama has garnered some serious buzz.

"Gravity" stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, though the movie is said to largely follow Bullock by herself in space. She plays a medical engineer named Dr. Ryan Stone who is out on her first shuttle mission with Clooney’s veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky. They participate in a routine spacewalk, but disaster causes their shuttle to be destroyed and the two of them are left stranded in the middle of space tied to nothing but one another.

When MTV News caught up with Guillermo del Toro last August, he said he was blown away by what Cuaron is planning.

"I’m amazed at Alfonso the past few movies because he’s completely transformed himself. ['Gravity' is] incredibly well-calculated. Very human, if you know the story," he said. "[They're] absolutely pushing a new boundary in filmmaking, completely mindblowing. And the way they’re making that movie will, I think, forever change certain types of productions."

Are you disappointed "Gravity" has been pushed back? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!

Source

When most people think of the drive-in movie theater, they romance the endangered communal movie experience with thoughts of young love, starry skies, cool breeze and fresh popcorn. As someone who grew up in southern New York and had not one, but several, drive-in theaters to choose from in my formative years, I can safely say all that’s great, but the best thing about drive-ins is the double feature.

At the drive-in, studios regularly pair their latest and greatest offering with something that’s just a little bit older, giving an added incentive for families to come out to the movies. That’s exactly what Disney did the past two weeks with their mega-hit, The Avengers. They paired it with their last film, the disappointing John Carter, and even with the small number of drive-ins remaining in America, the success of the former has led to a minor resurgence for the latter. After the jump, read how teaming up with The Avengers has been great news for John Carter.

The Hollywood Reporter first pointed out this phenomenon while looking at the box office tallies for the past two weeks.

The weekend of April 27, one week before The Avengers stormed on screens, John Carter was #34 at the box office, grossing $112,881 on 180 screens.

The following weekend, May 4, when The Avengers made a staggering, record breaking $207,438,708, John Carter jumped from #34 to #12, grossing $1,494,367 on 349 screens, a whopping increase of 1223.8%.

Then this past weekend when The Avengers grossed another record, $103,052,274, John Carter stayed relatively strong at #15, grossing $766,217 on 230 screens. The majority of drop off was likely the screens playing the film in second run.

According to the post, Carter is playing on around 150 drive-in screens with The Avengers at an average cost of $8 per ticket. Though no one is sure exactly how that ticket is split, The Avengers likely gets the bulk of it. Still, a small percentage of the huge amount of tickets The Avengers is selling is helping Barsoom gain a little bit more coin.

As of now, John Carter has grossed almost $72 million domestically, which would be considered a hit for most films. Unfortunately, with a reported budget around $250 million and a marketing budget in the neighborhood too, even rolling in its $200 million plus internationally doesn’t help.

Do you get out to the drive-in often? Do you stay for the double feature? How important is the double feature to the drive-in?

Additional sources: Box Office Mojo, Warwick Drive-In

Source